Las Vegas, NV – The International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) announced today that it will award prizes of $2,500 for each of the two best research papers written by students of accredited or international equivalent law schools as part of their class work during the 2015-2016 school year. The awards will be announced during IAGA’s 2016 Honors Luncheon held during the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas September 27 – 29, 2016.

The awards honor the memory of Shannon Bybee, one of IAGA’s founders, who had a distinguished gaming career as a gaming attorney, Nevada regulator, industry executive, and pioneer in the field of education in casino operations and gaming law. Inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Hall of Fame in 2002 because of his significant contributions to responsible gaming, Bybee also played an important role in the development of problem gambling regulations and advocacy.

To be eligible for the 2016 Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award, submitted papers must:

Be prepared as part of a student’s class work at an accredited or international equivalent law school during the 2015 – 2016 school year;

Be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. PST on July 15, 2016 to Jennifer Roberts, 2016 Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award Committee Co-Chair, by mail to her attention Duane Morris, 100 N. City Parkway, Suite 1560, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106 or by email at [email protected];

Be accompanied by written confirmation from a law school instructor that the paper was written under the direction of that instructor;

At the time of submission, not have been published or selected for publication in any academic, legal, or gaming industry journal or periodical;

Be accompanied by a written and signed confirmation that if the paper is selected for the 2016 Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award, IAGA may publish the paper in an IAGA-sponsored publication and post the paper online via the official IAGA web site; and

Be written on a topic that either enhances the understanding of gaming law or recommends a beneficial change in gaming law.

Submitted papers may be of any length, but it is recommended they be between 3,000 and 5,000 words, exclusive of footnoting. The criteria for evaluation of the papers are:

Importance to the field of gaming, to gaming regulators and practitioners, and to the study of gaming law;

Depth and breadth of research and analysis as reflected in text and footnotes.

The Director of the 2016 Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award is Peter Bernhard, former Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Co-Chairs of the Shannon Bybee Scholarship Committee are Tom Auriemma, gaming industry consultant and adjunct faculty at Rutgers Law School – Newark, and Jennifer Roberts, gaming attorney and adjunct professor of gaming law at both UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law and University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. They are joined by committee members Ken Oettle, senior counsel at Sills Cummis & Gross in New Jersey and Maren Parry, gaming attorney with Ballard Spahr in Las Vegas.